India has played two games in the World Cup so far. And what a contrast it has been. After a large number of prayers and poojas to ensure a victory, with the hopes of a billion Indians on their shoulders, the team took off to the Carribean. The first match was against Bangladesh. Being a significant underdog, they were supposed to lose. The team played very tentatively and lost a game they would win 9 out of 10 times. Their loss ended up surprising everyone, India included of course. That was was followed by huge demonstrations and riots in India. People burned effigies of the players and destroyed a house (that was being built) of one of the players. One of the signs at the next match read something like, "Indian players: Win now or stay here forever". People had decided that India was going to get eliminated and the only reason the riots were more violent was that Pakistan got eliminated the day before by losing to Ireland and if anything that can cheer up Indians after a loss, it's a Pakistan loss.
The next match could not be a bigger contrast. As India played Bermuda, another underdog, records tumbled as India recorded the fifth highest score ever achieved and won with the largest margin in the game's history. The players that were stuggling earlier came to form and scored at a torrid pace. It was as good a demolition of an opponent as I have ever seen. Now we all look forward to the next game with relatively cooler heads. It's good to be normal. I must say it's been great fun having all my uncles and grandparents around. We've been playing corridor cricket at home daily. Also, in the past, when I saw people watch the Super Bowl with their families, I was a little jealous. Now it's great to watch cricket with my family and listen to people opine about every little thing. No little incident on or off the field goes by without a million explanations from each of us regardless of age. Cricket is truly a great equalizer.
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5 comments:
nothing like a good butt kicking! You would be troubled to know that this past Sunday I went to watch your Philadelphia 76ers take on Niraj's Houston Rockets. The score? Rockets 124, 76ers 74!! It was the most lopsided loss in the history of 76ers home games. Houston even benched its starters for the duration of the fourth quarter, so we left early.
Aah, I read about that bad loss Rajesh. BTW, they're no longer MY 76ers. But I do sympathize with them and I hope this loss brings them closer to a higher draft pick.
Lucky for you that YOUR Nuggest ain't playing the Rockets anymore. They just can't afford to play really good teams from here on out. (And no comments from the Mavs fan about how the Rockets are subpar -- check out the power rankings before you open your mouth!)
Kalyan,
Can you post a little bit about the reaction in India to the murder of the Pakistani cricket coach?
Also, I'm curious -- is it unusual that Pakistan was coached by a white, non-Muslim, Englishman?
Vikrant, it's not really surprising that a non-muslim White man was the coach of the Pakistani team, but just like in India (who also has a similar coach) there was a lot of talk about how it's shameful that the country couldn't find a coach from within. But it's almost always about the bottomline and I'm sure that was the motivation in picking Woolmer as the coach.
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